


Children

by Arel_Draconia



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Romance, Snow, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:06:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22742215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arel_Draconia/pseuds/Arel_Draconia
Summary: Rukia brings up the topic of children while she and Captain Hitsugaya are on a mission to the world of the living.
Relationships: Hitsugaya Toushirou/Kuchiki Rukia
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	Children

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all. This is my first work in about 5 years so I'm probably pretty rusty. I have a good group of friends who pushed me to get back into writing though so here is the first result. Read and review please.

"What do you think of children?" Toshiro's thoughts are brought to a halt at the question posed by his companion. He opened his eyes and turned to the lieutenant. "What was that Rukia?" It had been such a random question he wasn't sure he'd heard her right. "What do you think of children?" She asked again, brushing a snowflake off of her sleeve. They were in the world of the living on a mission. It had been deemed high risk enough for a captain and a lieutenant to be required. Normally Matsumoto would have accompanied him but she was on leave. She'd claimed it was an emergency of some kind. As loathe as he was to believe her she'd actually filled out all the necessary paperwork so he figured it was important regardless. Ukitake had recommended Rukia to fill in. He had intended to request her anyway so it worked out. They worked well together and it had been a while since they had spent time together and he knew the mission would go by a lot faster if he spent it with the one he loved.

"Toshiro?" His eyes snapped to her. He'd zoned out again. "Sorry. Your question right?" Rukia nodded with a fond smile. She knew how easily he could get lost in his own head. She constantly told him it was one of the things she liked about him. "Let's see, children." He began leaning back onto his hands from the edge of the roof they were seated on. "I haven't really found the time to interact or think about children all that often." He says blowing out a warm breath and watching it dissipate in the cold air. Rukia smiled knowingly next to him.  
"Well when you think about them what comes to mind?" She asks.

He looked up at the cloudy sky that steadily rained snowflakes around them. He took a deep breath through his nose as he arranged his thoughts. "Well the first thing that comes to mind is innocence, naivete..." He trails off and Rukia moves closer and presses him. "Anything else?" Her eyes glow eagerly. She's acting rather excited about this topic. He eyes her suspiciously and she blushes faintly at his gaze. He doesn't call her on it though and continues to answer her question. "Laughter. I guess children laugh a lot don't they?" He says and she nods silently asking him to elaborate further. He smiles at her display. "Children make me wish for a second chance at my own childhood.” He says and wraps an arm around her shoulders. She hums in acknowledgement and eagerly leans into his shoulder. He smiles and rubs her shoulder. He loves their time together. Even if they just simply sit close to each other with no words exchanged between them. Her company was always enough.

He looks down at her hair and smiles as she seems like she is close to dozing off. Normally he’d be fine letting her drift but the hollow they were hunting might be nearby. He needed her alert. Rather than shake her awake or push her off him he decided to continue the conversation. “Thinking about it more, children remind me of you in a way.” She scrunched her nose in thought. She was most likely trying to figure out if that was a good thing or bad thing. “How so?” She said after a moment. She didn’t move away from him though and her voice coming from so close to him brought another smile to his face. “Well there’s a few ways actually. Would you like to hear them all?” He asks and she nods against his shoulder. Sometimes Rukia made him forget he was a captain. He had to resist the urge to put her in his lap and hold her. She always made a fuss when he did but he knew she secretly enjoyed it as much as he did. “You make me want to protect you from everything that could ever hurt you. There's one.” Rukia's eyes widened and she looked up at him with a blush. She opened her mouth to respond but he already knew what she was going to say. “I know you don’t need me to protect you anymore. You haven’t needed protecting in a while but it doesn’t automatically let me go on without wanting to protect you anyway.” She closed her mouth and blushed even fiercer. “You’re a dummy sometimes you know.” She said burying her face into his chest to hide the redness in her face. Toshiro rolled his eyes playfully and embraced her. “How could I forget, with how often you tell me?” He says and she laughs into his haori. Her laughter always caught him off guard. It was surprisingly gentle coming from such a fierce woman. 

Rukia hummed in contentment after calming down. “How else do children remind you of me?” She asks leaning heavily against him now. Toshiro had begun to absentmindedly stroke her hair. If he ever did it when they were around their comrades she’d normally bat his hand away and mutter something about keeping up appearances. Now however she let him run his hands through her hair to his heart's desire. “You can light up a room just by walking in.” He says with a grin as he thinks back to several times she did just that. Often dispelling the normal tension between him and the other Captains with just a single greeting. “That’s not true.” She says with a laugh still refusing to move her head from his chest. Was she listening to his heartbeat? “It is true though. You’ve seen how close I’ve come to losing my temper on some of the other Captains. It’s mainly because of you that nothing has happened after a meeting.” The main culprit was usually Captain Mayuri. For some reason he liked to poke fun at Toshiro for a number of things. His refusal to grow taller, the strange properties of his bankai, his worthiness of being a Captain. The last one never ceased to fray his nerves. Rukia reached up and caressed his cheek with one hand. “You’ve done as much for the Seireitei as any Captain if not more. I won’t stand by and let them tease you. Neither will Rangiku.” Toshiro smiled and gently kissed the palm of her hand. “I know both of you have my back in these matters. That’s why I can leave with my head held high.” He says and she smiles, glad he understands. “Now are those the only ways children remind you of me?” She asks and he laughs. “The only ways I feel comfortable saying to you.” She glared at him and punched him in the chest playfully. He grabbed her hand and smiled at her. She suddenly found it very hard to look him in the eyes. 

“You always get flustered when I look at you. Why is that?” He asks, letting her hand go. “I don’t know what to do when you look at me like that?” She says with a tint of red in her cheeks. Now he was confused. “Look at you like what?” He asks pulling her close. “It’s like… I can feel something in your eyes.” She says and closes her eyes in his comfortable embrace. “Ah I see now.” He says sagely in a tone that annoys her. “Are you making fun of me?” She asks opening one eye to give him a stare. “Of course not my dear. That would be hazardous to my health.” He says and they both laugh. They both know that she would never hurt him, even if she could. “You never answered my question. Were those the only ways you’re reminded of me by children?” She asks once again. Toshiro suddenly finds a spot off to the right very interesting. “Well no. I don’t know if you’ll like this one though.” He says and she sits up a little taller trying to get herself untangled from his lap. “Why is that?” She says leaning into his line of sight. “You’re both…. Adorable.” He says and waits for her to yell at him. “Is that it?” She asks with a raised eyebrow. "It takes a little more than that to make me fly off the handle you know. Toshiro I think that’s sweet of you to say.” She says and gives him a chaste kiss that was over before he had the chance to appreciate it leaving him dumbfounded. She normally hated it when he called her cute or anything like that. She removed herself from him and stood up to stretch. He immediately missed her warmth. “Was there any other reason for bringing up that topic?” He asked her. Now it was her turn to be evasive. “Have you detected anything from the hollow?” She asked him seemingly trying to pretend she hadn’t heard him. “Rukia we wouldn’t be standing here if I had.” He raised an eyebrow at her miserable attempt to distract him. “Rukia?” He pressed stepping closer. 

Rukia sighed and turned away from him. “I’ve been thinking about our future.” She says vaguely. Toshiro walked up to stand beside her. “Would you care to elaborate?” He says gently. “Well you’ve told me that you intend to ask my brother for his blessing soon.” She says with a wistful smile. Toshiro coughed and turned away. That had been rather brazen of him. Even if it was true. He was simply waiting for things around their respective divisions to calm down first. “Yes and my intentions remain the same. What of it?” He says and his words bring another smile to her face. “Well Toshiro.” She turned to him with a nervous smile and her hands on her stomach as if cradling it. “What do you think of children?” Toshiro's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Take the time to review so I can know what I need to improve on.


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